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The Importance of Farmers and Animals

The farmers who work the land and care for animals are important to us.

We want farmers to be successful.

We’ve been working with independent poultry farmers on a contract basis since the late 1940s. The average farmer has been raising chickens for Tyson Foods for 15 years. Some farm families have been raising chickens for us for three generations. We provide the birds, feed and technical advice, while farmers provide the farm, housing and care. It’s been a relationship we believe works well for both the farmer and the company to increase efficiency and quality, while maintaining affordable prices for consumers. If farmers succeed, we succeed.

We provide resources to help farmers.

We share farmer stories to honor what they do.

We're Committed – Vinh

Farmer Vinh left a job as a systems administrator for the opportunity to farm so that he could see his efforts pay off and to have something to leave to his children. He’s thankful for the help and support from his Tyson Foods field tech. For Vinh, it's more than just a reputation; it's about producing good, quality product for the consumer. And he says farming is one of the best decisions he’s made.

Tyson Poultry Farmer – Jacque

Farmer Jacque and her husband grew up farming. They know the value of hard work and wanted to pass that on to their kids. She’s keenly focused on animal welfare. She knows when she goes to the store and sees that red Tyson label that the other farmers have worked just as hard as her family. She wants to make sure that she supports Tyson Foods the way Tyson Foods has supported her. She says the name Tyson represents quality, it represents hard work, it represents animal welfare and everyone working together to advocate for a healthy, happy animal.

American Made: Is Tyson Chicken Produced in the USA?

Meet Bill and Jeff. Bill is a Truck Driver for Tyson Foods and Jeff is a poultry farmer. They’ve been friends for 5 decades. They grew up together and spent their whole life in the same community. Jeff is thankful for the oversight, technology and advancements in the American farming industry. As Jeff says, farmers are important, and he’s built something pretty special.

We’re Committed – Grant

Farmer Grant is looking forward to passing down his farm to his son. Poultry farming has made his diversified operation financially stable enough to do that. He believes you get out of it what you put into it with poultry farming. He takes good care of his chickens and he sees the results when he sells them. He takes pride in feeding the world. He knows chicken doesn’t just come from grocery stores, it comes from farms.

Live from the Farm Recording

Take a tour of the Butler’s poultry farm and then see what happens in the barn when we let our Chicken Cam roll.

We are committed to the proper treatment of farm animals.

Caring about animals and delivering excellence in animal welfare is part of our internal culture. Every day, we have more than 50 animal welfare specialists who come to work with the purpose of ensuring the safety of the animals in our supply chain. We also have an Animal Welfare Advisory Panel that includes experts across academia, producers and scientists. Our goal is to accelerate progress and lead the industry in animal experience research and innovation, while also advancing transparency.

We know that consumers want to know where their food comes from, and we’re committed to transparency. Our industry leading third-party audit program, FarmCheck, ensures that livestock and poultry suppliers are monitored for proper animal access to food and water, a comfortable environment, human-animal interaction and worker training. We’ve also implemented the U.S. meat industry’s most expansive third-party Remote Video Auditing (RVA) system to assist in monitoring live bird handling during catching and in our poultry plants, to ensure birds are handled in a humane manner as they are transported to our facilities.

We are passionate about making a positive impact in the lives of the animals and we are dedicated to becoming the leader in animal welfare, research and transparency.